A modern architectural rendering depicts a street view of contemporary buildings with glass and brick facades. Trees are planted along the sidewalk where silhouettes of people walk, creating an urban landscape under a clear sky.

Skye Edge

Sheffield, England

2007

Clients Sheffield City Council, Europan

Buildings · Housing

This prizewinning proposal for the Skye Edge area of Sheffield seeks to exploit existing routes through the area and to plug into the existing spatial and transport networks. By combining four housing types with a variety of public spaces many permutations in the urban environment are created - variety that could be achieved in a cost-effective manner.

Blueprint-style architectural plan showing building layouts, pathways, and green spaces. Various structures are arranged in a grid-like pattern with connecting roads and areas marked with trees, indicating planning details for a construction project.

The site is located at the edge of park land on the threshold between the urban and ‘natural’ environments. To highlight the experience of this edge our proposal would involve the partial ‘rewilding’ of this area with wildflower swards and grassy scrub. At masterplan level this edge would be hardened, with elements of the scrubland ‘transplanted’ into the urban areas while promontories of public space project from the built-up areas into the meadow.

An abstract illustration with a winding path, greenery, and trees. Minimalistic lines form the landscape, with splashes of green and yellow suggesting vegetation, while small dots indicate flowers.

Placing ‘nature’ within the urban environment gives it prominence as something to be considered and valued. Similarly, the promontories into the meadow allow a place for observation to take place. The new housing along the city edge becomes a vehicle for viewing nature and an enjoyable tension is created across the threshold between the two zones, heightening the experience of each.